Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Rimfires .22 mag

17HMR for me. Just ordered a new CZ 457, should be here this week. I love the flat trajectory and that little bullet really hits with a smack. I use mine mostly for rock chucks and jack rabbits. Ranges to 150 or 175 yards = dead critter, over that and the wind starts making things interesting and less than a sure thing. I like to say that they pick up where a 22lr leaves off.

A Ruger 'RAR' Predator, or compact in syn stock.....can be very accurate, quick trigger spring change - ballpoint pen....and they do pack a bigger punch in 22 mag than LR.

If one is only hunting squirrels and rabbits to eat, a LR or 17 might be best, but the WMR has a bit of forgiveness in trajectory.

If I had to have 1 rimfire for hunting/killing, I'd use the 22 WMR, headshots save meat..FWIW.

Since the .22 MAG is a niche cartridge, if you don't know if you have that niche to fill, you should probably wait until it comes into focus.

I've had at least 1 .22 MAG around for over 50 years and I think that it would be hard to find a more useful utility rifle/cartridge combination to have around the camp/farm/ranch than a stainless Marlin 783/883/983.

I am a huge 22mag fan---wouldn't be without one--H&K 300 for a long gun and a Dan Wesson in a revolver--I went thru several long guns before I was happy --ruger,remingtom even a Kodiak but the H&K is my fav!
Had a real nice Taurus 22 mag--nice gun but I'm still more happy with the DW--2" thru 8" barrel sets.

I've got a Kodiak 260, the poster child for unreliable.

I really can't explain why I have a love affair with 22 magnums. I headshot a possum in a tree with one one day. It died right there. My bud with a 17 HMR put one center mass and you couldn't tell it had been hit. I did the same with my 22 magnum. We alternated until we had both hit it a few times. The 22 magnum really rocked that possum. The 17 HMR didn't budge it. In the real world, that means absolutely nothing, but I just like the way the old 22 magnum seems to hit hard. I have 3. My 10/22 magnum is oddly the most accurate. It LOVES 30 grain polymer tip bullets. It routinely puts 3 shots into 1/4 inch at 50 yards and 3 shots into less than an inch at 100. My 22/77 magnum shows a strong preference for 50 grain Federal JHP. It has delivered several 5 shot sub half inch groups at 50 and a number of one inch groups at 100. My American Predator likes Winchester 40gr JHP. It'll crowd MOA at 50 and 100.

My experience tells me that most 17 HMRs and Mach 2s are stupid accurate with just about any available ammo. With a 22LR you can probably find a few loads that shoot great, but you'll have to test quite a bit to find those. I don't think I have ever had a 22 magnum that would give outstanding results with more than one load, but I could always find one load the gun loved. Maybe it's because I quit trying once I found "the" load. It can take a good bit of testing to get there.

Had a Cooper 57 in .22wmr. 17HMR came out so I sent it back and had them rebarrel it to 17hmr.
The Hmr was slightly more accurate but I always wished I'd left it 22 mag. Traded it for an anschutz .22 mag that I later traded off for a 1710HB in .22 lr. I picked up an A-Bolt 22 mag and have had it for at least 10 years. Not as accurate as the Cooper or Annie but it's not going anywhere. Far right in the pic. Wish they'd made a mag in gold medallion to match my 30-06 and 22lr....

due to increasing hog populations in our area, when chasing squirrels i now pack around my .22mags more than 22LR...have killed hogs & 'yotes with various 22LR's, but the 22mag does considerably better for me when taking body shots on hogs & dogs.

most JHP loads are rough on squirrels if you like to eat 'em, but the various FMJ loads, as well as the CCI Gamepoint JSP (and the same load under the Fiocchi brand name) does not wreck 'em too bad. The federal 50gr HP also seems to not expand much on squirrels or bunnies.

Now this thread is getting some traction. Nice pics.

Damn those are some big squirrels

And some damn nice rifles!

Duuude, why do you do this schit to me? I was perfectly happy living amongst my 22LR’s and 17 hmr’s, then you gotta ask about a flip’n 22 mag...Aaahhhh!

I want one...😎

Are the Marlin's pure junk or a good bang for the buck?

How about the CZ American 457? I have a 452 American. It could be a sweet pair.

Sorry dude...Spring fever and I Loooooove .22 rim fires.

Got a 94/22WMR Deeeeeeeeelux about the time they went out of production, mostly just for grins. It shoots well. One of my "buddies" got to shoot it one day on the .50 yard line. 1/4" group of 3 he shot and begged me to sell it to him. Told him it was impolite to upstage someone with their own rifle and BTW, pack sand. Don't recall that I've shot it since. Haven't seen any T-Rex in the 'hood for a long time.

Another option might be a stainless synthetic CZ 455 American in 22 mag. Might be able to grab a new one for 350 or so. Might.

Over the years I've had a dozen .22 magnum rifles from Marlin, Ruger, Winchester, Mossberg, Savage and Ithaca. My Marlin 882 is by far the most accurate of the lot {sub MOA} but it's 29 years old and wasn't made by Remington.

The .17 HMR has it's place. May be more accurate and probably has a bit more range than the .22 WMR.

My 1717 Annie likes 17 gr. TNT ammo.

DF

at their price range, the Marlins are pretty decent guns, have 3 of them in 22mag, quite accurate.....i like 'em and also have several in .22LR. While they don't cycle as smoothly as my Kimber or Anschutz rifles, they do the job....i pack them around quite a bit when running trail cameras & checking feeders, etc on my farm, in case 'yotes or hogs or coons or something that needs shot pops up.

My Mossberg shows a preference for plain jane Winchester 40 grain and their 34 grain Supreme load.
Anybody else find the same?